Pai Gow

Pai Gow means "make nine" in Cantonese. This is a popular Chinese gambling
game played with one set of dominoes. The television show, KUNG FU: THE
LEGEND CONTINUES, aired an episode entitled "Pai Gow" on 1993 March 1 in
which Caine and Peter go undercover to investigate the murders of several
participants in a high-stakes Pai Gow game (Written by: John Considine;
Directed by: Zale Dalen.Guest Cast: Jennifer Sung: Betsy Soo; Mr. Wu: Fred
Lee; Valdosta Sam: Robert Wisden; Mr. Sung: Kam Ray Chan; Quo Chen: Robert
Chang; Dirk: Shawn Lawrence). The main character, Caine, had been a Pai Gow
dealer at some time in his life and they did some close up shots with fancy
shuffling and dealing.

Hardcore players do not even look at their tiles; they lift them up and feel
the holes in face of the tiles, reading them like braille.

Do not confuse Pai Gow with Pai Gow Poker. Pai Gow Poker is a game played
with a deck of regular cards and very elaborate rules created in California
to get around gambling laws which prohibit banking games. It is also based
on the idea of making two hands and having to win both of them.

The woodpile is four tiles high and eight tiles long. The first player to
recieve a hand is determined by throw three dice. The total of the dice is
counted out starting with the bank in a counter clockwise direction.

Each player is dealt a stack of four tiles from the woodpile. The house
starts the game as the bank, but then can pass the bank to other players, as
in Baccarat. The option to take or refuse the bank moves counter clockwise
around the table.

The dealing can be elaborate. These are the possible deals ("Pai Gow cuts")
allowed by the Australian Casino commission.

PAI GOW CUTS

TRADITIONAL NAME

OPTIONS

ENGLISH NAME

Yat Dong Dong

(Right or Left)

One Stack

Cup Say

(Right or Left,Top or Bottom)

Tiger

Chee Yee

(Top or Bottom)

Chop the Ears

Dai Pin

(Right or Left)

Big Slice

Jung Quat

(Top or Bottom)

From the Heart

Long Tau/Fong May

(Right or Left)

Dragon Head/Phoenix Tail

Wui Fung Bank

Hong Kong Bank

Foot Say

Four Across

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Sydney Harbour Bridge

Ghan Dong Ping Say

(Right or Left)

Kangaroo Jump

Pong Yun

(Right or Left)

Buddhas Signal

Bo Bo Go Sing

(Right or Left)

Boy Walks Up Stairs

Ghan Dong Cup Say

(Right or Left)

Striped Tiger

Yat Kai Sum May

Chicken Three Ways

Arn Lok Peng Sar

(Right or Left)

Flying Dragon

Sydney Tower

Sydney Tower

China Bank

China Bank

Chong Wan Sup Lok

Sixteen Across

Seung Gwai Pak Moon

Ghost Closing the Door

Gum Un Que

(Right or Left,Front to Back)

Double Bridge

The goal of the game is to divide the four tiles into two pairs or hands. If
both your pairs outrank those held by the bank, then you win your bet. If
both the bank's pairs outrank yours, then you lost your bet. If one of your
pairs outranks those held by the bank and the other does not, then the hand
is a draw and you get your money back.

How do you rank your hand? It is a bit complicated, so let's start with the
easy stuff first. There are 992 possible hands per player if you do the
math, but because of the duplicate tiles, and the fact that order does not
matter, there are actually few possible hands. Numeric order has little to
do with the ranking of hands; it is symbolism and not substance. The hands
are scored as follows:

1) The highest possible pair is the Gee Joon ("supreme pair"), which is made
up of the two tiles:

[4-2] and [2-1]

The [4-2] and [2-1] are the two "wild cards" in the woodpile, and can be used
as either a 3 or a 6 when making pairs (i.e. they substitute for each other).
This is not the same rule that Western card games use, where a wild card
substitutes for any card.

2) Under the Gee Joon are the pairs (Bo), which can be made up of matched or
unmatched tiles that have the same totals. In order of rank from high to low,
they are:

Pair

Pair name

[6-6] and [6-6]

Heaven

[1-1] and [1-1]

Earth

[4-4] and [4-4]

Man

[3-1] and [3-1]

Goose

[5-5] and [5-5]

Plum Flower

[3-3] and [3-3]

Double Three

[2-2] and [2-2]

Board

[6-5] and [6-5]

Hatchet

[6-4] and [6-4]

Red Ten

[6-1] and [6-1]

Long Leg Seven

[5-1] and [5-1]

Big Head Six

[6-3] and [5-4]

Jaap Gow - mixed nine

[6-2] and [5-3]

Jaap Bart - mixed eight

[5-2] and [4-3]

Jaap Chut - mixed seven

[4-1] and [3-2]

Jaap Ng - mixed five

There is no numeric order to this ranking, so you just have to learn them.

3) The next level of hands beneath the Bo are called Wongs. They are a nine
paired with a double six or double one. The double six combinations outrank
the double one combinations.

[6-6] and [6-3]
[6-6] and [5-4]
[1-1] and [6-3]
[1-1] and [5-4]

4) The third level of hands are called Gongs. They are a eight paired with a
double six or double one. The double six combinations outrank the double one
combinations.

[6-6] and [6-2]
[6-6] and [5-3]
[6-6] and [4-4]
[1-1] and [6-2]
[1-1] and [5-3]
[1-1] and [4-4]

5) If you do not have any of these hands, then add up all the pips on the two
tiles and take the total, modulus ten -- i.e. keep the last digit of the
total as your score. This is the part that is like Baccarat.

6) After all of this, in the event of a tie, the ranking is settled based on
individual tile values. From high to low the tiles are ranked and named:

Tile

Tile name

[6-6]

Teen

[1-1]

Day

[4-4]

Yun

[3-1]

Gor

[5-5]

Mooy

[3-3]

Chong

[2-2]

Bon

[6-5]

Foo

[6-4]

Ping

[6-1]

Tit

[5-1]

Look

[6-3] and [5-4]

Gow

[6-2] and [5-3]

Bot

[6-1] and [5-2]

Chut

[4-2]

Luk (part of Gee Joon)

[4-1]

Ng

[3-2]

Ng

[2-1]

Saam (part of Gee Joon)

The [4-2] and [2-1] tiles are scored by how they are played, but they are the
lowest ranking single tiles.

Whoever has the bank keeps a marker called a "Chung" in front of his place on
the table. The bets are settled against the banker one player at a time,
with the money being racked into the center of the table. In the casino
game, the house provides a dealer and the bank calls out which cut he wishes
to use.

Tips for Playing

About 80% of the time, you should play your hand by using the following
strategy:

Look for pairs and look for unmatched pairs (i.e. same totals, but different arrangement of pips) which are harder to see.

Play the [6-6] or [1-1] with any tile totaling 7, 8 or 9.

Play the two smallest tiles that total to 7, 8 or 9.

Every hand can be played three different ways, so be careful. Getting a very good high hand can lead to a very weak low hand and result in a tie. However, a more balanced high and low hand can result in a win.

For example, assume are dealt [5-6], [3-2], [6-4], and [4-3]. This can be
played as:

[5-6] and [6-4] = one
[4-3] and [3-2] = two

[5-6] and [3-2] = six
[6-4] and [4-3] = seven

[5-6] and [4-3] = eight
[6-4] and [3-2] = five

Clearly, option (A) is the worst hand. But (B) is better balanced that (C)
even though it has a weaker low hand.

An Optimal Strategy for Pai Gow was posted by Bernard James Luger III (email:
bjliii@leland.Stanford.edu) on 1995 June 15, using the table below. The Pair
column is the pair you hold in your hand. The Banker and Player columns tell
you when to split that pair, using the other tiles in your hand as a guide.
This table is exact for the no commission game, and is almost perfect for the
commission game.

This is almost splitting to make a 6-8 or better, but that's not quite
perfect

Man (8)

(2, 10, 12) w/ 10 or 112 w/ 129 w/ 11

SAME

Goose (4)

NEVER

NEVER

Flower (10)

NEVER

NEVER

Long (6)

(2, 12) w/ (2, 11, 12)

NEVER

Board (4)

NEVER

NEVER

Hatchet (11)

NEVER

NEVER

P'ttn (10)

NEVER

NEVER

Long Leg Seven

2 and 12(2, 12) w/ (10, 11)10 and 11

2 and 12(2, 12) w/ (10, 11)FLOWER 10 and 11

Big Head Six

2 and 12(2, 12) w/ (FLOWER 10, 11)

2 and 12

Mixed Nine

2 and 1210 w/ 2, 12Unpaired 10's

SAME

Mixed Eight

2 and 12(2, 10, 12) w/ 10, 119 and 11

SAME

Mixed Seven

2 and 12(2, 10, 12) w/ 10, 11

SAME

Mixed Five

2 and 12

NEVER

Casinos require there dealers to play their hands according to certain rules
("House way"), just as Black Jack or 21 dealers in Western casino games.
Harrah's in Las Vegas uses the optimal strategy as given above, except:

They split Heaven or Earth to make 6-8 or better;

They split Sevens as (2, 12) w/ 2, 10, 11, 12;

They never split Long, Big Head Six, or the Mixed Five.

How much is Harrah's giving up? Not much; their 5% commission overwhelms the
small differences caused by splitting incorrectly. But, as a player or
banker, these rules will save you about 0.1% over the Harrah's strategy. Not
much, but hey, it's money!

If no higher play is possible, always play Wong, Gong or High Nine. Even at the expense of the low hand.

Play High Nine instead of Gong or Wong and Gong instead of Wong when given a choice.

When given a choice of playing a Wong, Gong or High Nine with a Teen and Day, play the Teen on the high hand.

Exceptions to Wongs, Gongs and High Nines

Play Gong over High Nine when the fourth tile is four.

Play Wong over Gong or High Nine when the fourth tile is eleven.

General Play

Bring the low hand and the high hand as close together as possible unless they can be set to a higher value.

If the high hand is seven or less play the high tile on the low hand when given a choice.

If the high hand is eight or better play the high tile on the high hand when given a choice.

Where possible do not play the two highest tiles on the same hand.

Exceptions to General Play

High 10. Low 10, any 6 with 2 or 12. Play 0 and 8

High 10, Low 10, 11 any 7 or 8. Play 0 and 8 or 0 and 9

High 8, High 10, 11 any 7. Play 7 and 9

High 6, 5, Gee Joon any 2 or 12. Play 7 and 9

High 6, 5, Gee Joon any 7. Play 2 and 9

High 6, 5, Gee Joon any 8. Play 3 and 9

High 6, 5, Gee Joon any 10. Play 5 and 9

High 6, 5, Gee Joon and 11. Play 6 and 9

High 6, Low 6, 5 and Gee Joon. Play 1 and 9

High 6, 5, Gee Joon and nine. Play 4 and 9

High 4, Low 4, 5 any 6. Play 0 and 9

High 6, Low 6, 2 or 12 with any 4 or 5. Play 0 and 8 or 1 and 8

High 4, Low 4, 5, Gee Joon. Play 7 and 9 with the high 4 on the high hand

High 8, Low 8, High 6 with any 7. Play 4 and 5 with the high 8 on the high hand

High 8, Low 8, High 4 with any 7. Play 2 and 5 with the high 8 on the high hand

High 8, Low 8, High 4 with any 6. Play 2 and 4 with the High 8 on the high hand

High 10, Low 10, High 6 with any 7. Play 6 and 7 with the high 10 on the high hand

High 4, High 10, Low 4, Eleven. Play 4 and 5 with High 4 on the high hand

High 10, High 8, Low 8 and 9. Play 7 and 8 with the High 8 on the low hand.

The exceptions listed above may also be known as using the format outlined
below.

If after bringing both hands closer together you have 1 on the low hand and it is possible to make 8 or 9 on the high hand play the eight or nine.

If after bringing both hands closer together you have 2 on the low hand and it is possible to make 8 using a Teen or Day. Play the 8.

If after bringing both hands closer together you have two tiles in the first six rankings on the same hand and its possible to separate them without altering the point totals on the hands do so.

If after bringing both hands closer together you have an 8 with 5, Gee Joon on either hand and its possible to make a high 6 ranked nine or better do so.

High 8, High 10, 11 any 7, Play 7 and 9.

Web Sites for Pai Gow

You can find other web sites with information on the game, set up by casinos
or gambling equipment companies in Las Vegas. You can download a video game version of Pai Gow from ICA Inc. (Box #585; Franktown, CO 80116) from their web site. It will cost you about $10 to upgrade the shareware version to a full working copy or you can order it on a diskette for $14.99 plus $3.50 postage and handling.

There are some reference books in English on the game, but they are difficult
to find since they were usually small print runs.

Allen, George; HOW TO PLAY PAI GOW; 19??; ISBN ?

Gwynn, Jr., John M.; AN OPTIMAL STRATEGY FOR THE GAME OF PAI GOW; 1981; ISBN
?